I am an emeritus professor from Cornell University and was a Commissioned Lay Preacher in the Presbyterian Church (USA). For many years I have followed the Daily Lectionary as printed in the Mission Yearbook of my church. For each day of a two-year cycle, the lectionary lists four psalms and three other scriptural passages--usually one from the Old Testament and two from the New Testament. My practice is to copy down a verse or two from one of the psalms and from each of the other three passages. After I have written out all four selections, I reflect upon them, rearrange their order, and incorporate them into a meditation. Sometimes I retain much of the original wording; sometimes all that remains of a selection is an idea that was stimulated when I read the original words. All selections are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible. For the Daily Lectionary, see the link below.

To Trust in God, and to Forgive--March 6, 2018



O God Most High,
our refuge and our fortress;
teach us how to trust in you.
We are anxious about many things:
ourselves, our families, the affairs of the world.
We want to please you, too, but our interests are divided.
Jesus taught his disciples to go out with nothing;
they had to learn to depend entirely on you.
Joseph had learned to do that,
and he had learned the peace
that comes from forgiving.
Trusting in you makes
forgiving easier.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 34; 146; 25; 91
Gen. 45:1-15
1 Cor. 7:32-40
Mark 6:1-13

Selected Verses
Ps. 91:1-2
You who live in the shelter of the Most High,
          who abide in the shadow of the Almighty,
will say to the LORD, “My refuge and my fortress;
          my God, in whom I trust.” 

Gen. 45:4b-5
[Joseph said, "I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt.  And now do not be distressed, or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life. 

1 Cor. 7:32-34a
I want you to be free from anxieties.  The unmarried man is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to please the Lord; but the married man is anxious about the affairs of the world, how to please his wife, and his interests are divided. 

Mark 6:8-9
[Jesus] ordered [his disciples] to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics.

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